Game Review: NarcoGuerra

NarcoGuerra is a slightly scary Strategy Game produced by Game the News. GtN prides itself in making modern news stories approachable as games – and they do a nice job of creating the games.

Imaging playing risk with drugs, police, corruption, and lots of wars. If you can imagine all of that, with some great story lines and plot developments, you can picture what happens in NarcoGuerra. This is a realistic simulation about why the war on Drugs is so difficult to stop. When the game starts, you take command of the Police forces of Mexico. You help to develop resources, send men to battle and oust the Cartels.

This game is crazy difficult. It seems impossible in the first few rounds to be able to fight the cartels at their level. To continue the risk analogy, imagine that three people had been playing risk for 5 or so turns and then you started. That is what you walk into: well built and fortified positions by all of the cartels.

As an education game, NarcoGuerra is fantastic! It allows you to show students why the war on Drugs is so difficult rather than just telling them.

The Video Review

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Overall Rating

Interface

Engagement

Education Value

Productivity Value

Game Value

Summary

This application is a great way to engage students in the war on drugs. You can control and visualize why it is difficult for the government to regulate the drug trade. It is a graphic game, and I would only recommend it with Secondary School children, but it is a great game to use. The interface and controls are easy to use, and the story line keeps me coming back to learn more about this modern issue.